Popular Culture
The song was made famous by Paul Robeson whose voice, deep and resonant as it was, was said by some to have attained the status of the voice of God. On February 7, 1958, the song was recorded in New York City, and sung by Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver's Orchestra. It was recorded by Doris Akers and the Sky Pilot Choir in 1958. The song is also become a jazz standard, having been recorded by Grant Green, Fats Waller, Archie Shepp, Hampton Hawes and many others.
It is also one of the spirituals used in the oratorio "A Child of Our Time" by the English composer Michael Tippett.
William Faulkner titled his novel Go Down, Moses after the song.
A Hebrew translation of the song is a common element in the Passover seder in Israel.
A reference is made to the song in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off when a bedridden Cameron Frye sings, "When Cameron was in Egypt's land, let my Cameron go".
The NBC television comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air twice used the song for comedic effect. In the first instance, Will Smith's character sings the song after he and cousin Carlton Banks are thrown into prison (Smith sings the first two lines, Banks sullenly providing the refrain, then a prisoner sings the final four lines in an operatic voice.) In the second instance, Banks is preparing for an Easter service and attempts to show off his prowess by singing the last two lines of the chorus; Smith jokingly replies with his own version, in which he makes a joke about Carlton's height.
Also sung by Gregory Miller (played by Sidney Poitier) in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle.
The song was recorded by Deep River Boys in Oslo on September 26, 1960. It was released on the extended play Negro Spirituals No. 3 (HMV 7EGN 39).
Also sung by Jess Lee Brooks in the 1941 Preston Sturges film Sullivan's Travels.
The song, or a modified version of it, has been used in the Roger Jones musical From Pharaoh to Freedom.
Also sung by Della Reese in Episode 424, "Elijah", of Touched by an Angel while Bruce Davison sang "Eliyahu".
In 2010, the teen comedy film Easy A remixed this song with a fast guitar and beats. The song was originally published as Original Soundtrack and is listed in Imdb.
The French singer Claude Nougaro used its melody for his tribute to Louis Armstrong in French, under the name Armstrong.
Heavily influences the song "Get Down Moses", by Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros on their album Streetcore.
Read more about this topic: Go Down Moses
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“The lowest form of popular culture—lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people’s lives—has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.”
—Carl Bernstein (b. 1944)
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—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“Any historian of the literature of the modern age will take virtually for granted the adversary intention, the actually subversive intention, that characterizes modern writing—he will perceive its clear purpose of detaching the reader from the habits of thought and feeling that the larger culture imposes, of giving him a ground and a vantage point from which to judge and condemn, and perhaps revise, the culture that produces him.”
—Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)